NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) -- Some Cape Fear Community College students are getting hands-on experience as they try to move to new careers. For the past few weeks the students in the carpentry program have been building a utility building at the North Campus. They say if they're lucky they'll be done building by the end of the summer semester.

The students say the struggling economy has pushed them toward carpentry work.

"I had to change carriers, kind of shifted gears," student Michael Harrison said. "I drove a truck, and the economy got bad, fuel prices went up, so I was forced to build out of that and come back to school to get my carpentry degree."

Classmate Sean Cummings had a similar view.

"It's just really hard right now with the economy and everything," Cummings said. "Most people aren't trying to build new homes, and more so trying to renovate so they can get their home on the market and sell it, get their money back, but as of now, I got an associates degree, too, so I'm just trying to play both of those and see what I can do."

The students say it makes them feel proud to know they can come back and see the work they've done.

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